NETGEAR Orbi Pro WiFi 6 Tri-band Mesh System (SXK80) | Router with 1 Satellite Extender for Business or Home | Coverage up to 6,000 sq. ft. and 60+ Devices | AX6000 802.11 AX (up to 6Gbps) (Pack of 2)

I just bought this mesh system and I'm really happy with it. I had previously tested the Orbi RBK752 model, which provided great coverage but lacked the ability to separate WiFi networks by VLAN. That was a deal breaker for me since I have a number of smart lights, plugs, cameras, other IoT devices and wanted to keep them separate and limit their bandwidth and access. Additionally, I have a number of multimedia devices and also wanted to keep them separate from the lights, plugs, etc given that their bandwidth needs and profiles are very different. I also tested a couple more access points (e.g. EnGenius EWS357AP), which had awesome management features (e.g. 8 WiFi networks, VLAN support, very precise QoS controls, channel and frequency levers, etc) but came short on performance. I wanted to have a nice balance between performance and advanced features. My core requirements mainly revolved around 2 things -- great and sustained performance (at least 500 Mbps throughout my house) and the ability to deploy and manage multiple isolated WiFi networks. I do have a 1Gbps Internet connection. The SXK80 model has: 1 management network, which operates on the 2.4 and 5 GHz spectrum and defaults to VLAN 1 for obvious reasons, 2 regular networks, which can be further split up into 2.4 and 5 GHz SSIDs for a total of 4 SSIDs, and 1 Guest network, whose functionality has been greatly curtailed by Netgear (e.g. you cannot select the authentication/encryption scheme and may be vulnerable to malicious attacks). 8 ethernet ports (4 on each unit), which can be link-aggregated or VLAN tagged That said, it appears that the SXK80 model has a few bugs, which I hope Netgear resolves relatively soon: 1. Client devices connected via the Satellite AP are assigned to the default network/VLAN even when they part of a different VLAN. I believe Netgear is aware and working on a fix. 2. Client devices take a while to show on the list of connected devices 3. Client devices appear to be tagged with the wrong SSID name in the UI even though they are part of another network/VLAN 4. The QoS (bandwidth controls) appear not to be working at all. All my WiFi networks behave the same way with or without that feature enabled. 5. Not so much a bug -- I'm not sure why the Guest network is managed differently from other WiFi networks. It would have been nice to have the same management features across all the SSIDs. I'm hoping Netgear revisits this decision. 6. Finally, the GUI is not very intuitive. Netgear could and should do much better on this front. I hope they do. Highly recommend!

I picked this up as a long overdue upgrade for the house. I chose the Pro model because it was on sale for $60 cheaper than the consumer grade equivalent - and because the Pro bundle also includes the wall mounts (which the consumer package didn't) for an additional $60 in savings. I'm pretty tech savvy and have had decent success with Netgear products in the past, so I didn't anticipate any issues. For those that plan to pull this out of the box and set it up as a wireless mesh, I don't think you'll have many issues. That process was fairly simple. If you're a little more savvy and want to use the advanced features - make sure you've got an account registered on the Netgear community support forums (generally more helpful than Netgear's in-house tech support, imo). If you're going to use the advanced features - read the manual. Seriously - even if you're comfortable with networks, VLANs, etc., there are some idiosyncrasies you'll want to be aware of (because.... engineers do engineer things). For example: To use the ethernet wired backhaul feature with a satellite, you'll need to be aware of how the ports behave on both the router and the satellite. Ditto if you're running in AP mode instead of as a router. And if you've got a firewall that blocks ICMP on the internal side, you'll need to create a rule allowing the satellite & router access to ping the gateway. It'll still work without that rule, but you'll get cool purple "trouble" lights until it's enabled. All in all I'm pleased with the purchase - I should also note that I do most of my management from the web console, as the Insight app can be a bit counter-intuitive (and absolutely failed on the setup with the custom IP scheme we have, even though I'd pre-staged the devices in DHCP). I'm looking forward to messing around with the VLANs next and will update this review if I encounter any issues. Being able to segregate IoT traffic from the rest of our network has been on my "to-do" list for awhile now! Update, October 2021: After 6 months of headaches, I can no longer recommend this product. While it's marketed for small businesses, it lacks any sort of business level functionality. For example: you cannot use the wired backhaul capability unless it's directly connected from the satellite to the router, or goes through an >unmanaged< switch. It even has issues with our Netgear GC728X, even after disabling IGMP snooping, etc. The Insight app is a load of hot garbage, that doesn't even detect the Orbi 3/4's of the time. And don't get me started on what happens if there's a power outage!! If you like troubleshooting though, this is the product for you. You will have the opportunity to spend multiple hours at a time running between the router and the satellite, to try and get them synced. Restoring from configuration backups will occasionally leave you hunting down rogue DHCP servers, when it decides to turn that back on after the 4th or 5th factory reset. You'll go through boxes of paper clips to press the afore mentioned reset button! I just wish I was still able to return this, as I don't believe it's even going to make it to the one year mark. I cannot recommend this to anyone for use in any sort of business environment, and would heartily recommend even enthusiasts avoid for home networks. I'm starting to research alternatives, and will update this review again if I find something suitable.

Introduction: - As an IT Professional, I have been using Netgear routers for years in my home, and I’ve never had issues with them. My most recent is the 5-year-old Nighthawk R-7500 router and the Apple Air Extreme access point which are now retired as spares. Due to my house being 2400 Sq. ft two story structure, I had to use the access point for upstairs, and the R-7500 downstairs to maintain performance and minimize dead spots. The problem was I had to have two SSID’s for the router and access point, and two SSID’s for guests. Sometimes, my devices wouldn’t automatically switch from AP to router thereby causing a poor transitional connection. I also wanted to utilize the latest Wi-Fi 6 protocol available in my iPhone12. I chose the Orbi pro6 mesh system due to following options: - 1. Great reviews from nearly every vendor on the net. 2. Professional web-based GUI that rivals enterprise class GUI’s. This product was meant for small businesses, and for those who aren’t IT savvy, you can download a Netgear Insight app to set up and operate this router. 3. Single SSID for the entire house. Unlike Wi-Fi range extenders and access points where you get disconnected from one SSID and then reconnected to another as you go around the house, the Orbi pro6 system let's you connect to whatever SSID you assigned the device on the network. No more disconnections/reconnections! 4. A mesh network that will use one SSID for Admin for personal and home products use, and a choice of three more SSID’s for guests and IOT’s. 5. Won’t go obsolete soon – Supports maximum bandwidth of 2.5 Ghz. from ISP’s, latest Wi-Fi protocol Wi-Fi 6 (802.1 ax) and older protocol such as A, B, G, and N. Wi-Fi 6 is supported by newer devices such as the Apple iPhone12. 6. Can use a backhaul cable between the router and satellite – I have a CAT-7 cable that is already installed to support faster data transfer between both systems. 7. Mounting Brackets – As you can see in the picture, both router and satellite came with wall mounting brackets, and this made hardware installation very easy. Install and configuration: - Install was easy. Turn power off cable modem and old router. Disconnect old router, and once modem is fully re-booted, connect new router. When the Orbi router booted, it automatically connected to my XFinity service without any issues. Also, since the router came paired with the Satellite from the factory, it automatically synchronized with the router and they recommend a separation distance of 10 ft. during pairing. Once you logged into the router, it forced you change the admin password to a more sophisticated password. You do not have to program the satellite, the router passes on the configuration information to the satellite. Performance: - After a month of usage, I here are my experiences: - I routinely get around 900 Mbps from my ISP and that’s what I’m getting when I measure the speed using the router’s GUI. Without the Cat7 cable, and a direct distance of over 50 Ft. between several walls, a heater, and second story floor, I was getting a bandwidth of 500 Mbps on the satellite and over 700 Mbps connected to the router’s Wi-Fi. With the satellite connected to the router using the CAT7 cable, I get over 700 Mbps on my iPhone12 that utilizes WiFi6 and this is true for all locations in the house. I haven’t experienced any dead spots, and I settled on permanently using the CAT7 cable for the backhaul. Roaming around the house, the router and satellite automatically switch you to whatever device you are closest to, and gone are the days of having to sometimes manually switch SSID’s. Surprisingly, I get a strong signal in both my backyard and front lawn. You can continue streaming whatever you like while enjoying your summer barbeque. All devices that support both 2.4 and 5Ghz. radio stay connected to the 5Ghz, radio. All devices that utilize the 2.4 Ghz. radio such as printers and security camera’s stay on the 2.4 Ghz. radio. The router and Satellite lights stay off unless they have problems, and blink at you to confirm configuration changes. Power saver - Gone are the days of flashing Christmas lights (LED’s) all the time. Streaming video from the iPhone, iPad, and MacBook pro to my new 65” Vizio TV is a breeze since all systems are on the same SSID. Gone are the days of needing special adapters for this. Improved security software - I used to see a lot of DOS attacks attempts in the old router logs. For this Orbi6 Pro, I barely see any in its logs, and good luck to neighborhood hackers trying to get free Wi-Fi. Conclusion: - This is a rock-solid performer and with over 20 devices connected to this system, I haven’t experienced any issues. It may be pricier and bigger/heavier than the competition but if you want great performance and security, this is it. You pretty much set it up and forget it – Minimal maintenance is required, and you can set it up to automatically get router firmware updates from Netgear. The saying goes that you get what you pay for – For now, this system is one of the best performers of mesh routers. Supporting a maximum ISP bandwidth of 2.5 Ghz, and latest WiFi6 protocol, I’m looking forward to many years of great service from it.

My house is built with thick concrete and WIFI signal didn't pass through from 1st floor to 2nd. I tried lots of top of the line routers and mesh routers. (Linksys velop, gryphon, asus) None of them have enough WIFI signal strength that can cover my house. This one is totally different. The signal strength is unbelievably high and easily covered whole area. I just got rid of one star because of unstable installation process. I installed it as router which supposed to be setup as AP. I reset the router and set it as AP, but it didn't work. Many times of reset and setup, it didn't work. But suddenly it works fine after 2 hours. After installation, whole network works great.

Haven't found a real review on the SXK80. Most Reviews/Ratings are based on RBK852 or other Orbi systems and not relevant. I picked this up on a limited time deal where SXK80 was cheaper than the RBK852 I was intending to purchase. I was not interested in the Insight app subscription service and have only managed this from the local Web UI thus far. The SXK80, Router + 1 Satellite, advertises 6k square foot of coverage where as the RBK852 specs show 5k square foot of coverage in the Router + 1 Satellite configuration. Although the SXK80 is positioned as a business class product but my perspective is from a home owners view and was not initially interested in the business related features. I had been running a NetGear NightHawk RAX120 AX6000 router for last 1 year. The overall household user experience has been fair at best with that. We have 450Mbps up/25 Mbps down service, but a household of 6 with dozens of "things"... We're approaching 30+ devices on our network all consuming various internet services. With the pandemic virtual schooling, full time work at home, video conferencing, streaming in every room, we were having some inconsistent connectivity behavior throughout the house(~3500sq ft) even with hardwired devices. With the main router being located in upper corner of house, I tried adding an EAX80 in extender mode but sent it back immediately after setting it up as there was no wired backhaul capability and was maxing at out at around 120Mbps next to the extender. Leading me to replacing with the SXK80 system. Thus far setup has been a easy with the free web UI you would get with most any NetGear product. Insight subscription is optional and I'm sure great, but doubt necessary even for the business user. WebUI allows for configuration of up to 4 different SSIDs in various channel configurations and bandwidth per SSID configurability. Our home is hardwired and the wired backhaul auto-negotiated and can aggregate 2-ports from satellite to router for higher throughput. I currently am only using 1 uplink due to port constraints on the Main router which I may re-evaluate with network stability. Installed almost a week ago, stability and performance have been consistent and without issue. We have a range of wireless devices registered with worst connection being fair(-79dbm) and best being excellent(-24dbm). Every room has solid connectivity and from what I've randomly tested getting ~300-400mbps in most areas now. A quick trip out to the mailbox ~60ft from router I was still getting over 120Mbps.. Will do some other testing around the property but so far reception outside the house looks to be as good as can be expected. Ontop of the 4 Wireless networks you can create you also have the ability to configure 5 LAN networks and tag traffic. There are various MAC Filtering and Access Control, Block Sites, Block Services features in the WebUI. One useful feature I found not available on the RAX120 although I is on the Orbi systems is the ability to configure a unique DNS Server for DHCP Clients. This feature has allowed me to add a Pi-Hole DNS ad-blocker to our home network with some more granular client logging capabilities. Goodbye Nighthawk... Think I'll be resting easy with the Orbi SXK80.

It took 3 hours and 2 factory resets to set these up and after all that hassle I returned them anyway. I have CenturyLink fiber to the home and the WAN port could only handle 1/4th of my connection speed. I would have liked to troubleshoot autonegotiation of the WAN port but that feature was not available. It was also not obvious how to set a VLAN on the WAN port and the VLAN documentation was poor. Signal strength of clients for wireless was excellent. After all the routing problems, I also tried to use these in WAP mode but they refused to even connect in that mode and the mode could not be reversed without a factory reset. Really if all I wanted was a WAP these are way too much money just to get that functionality.

UPDATE (7/8/2021): I initially wrote a poor review for Netgears' customer service and would like to give an update of my experience (I'd like anyone reading this to know my experience). Since this review (below), customer service did reach out to me and we resolved the problem (after some time). I'm leaving the remainder of the review because 1. my experience in getting someone to speak to for a business router like this took more time than a small business could allow. and 2. the return policy for getting a refurbished router after buying a brand new router needs to be revised and changed. HOWEVER, even though it took time, they ended up communicating with me via email and eventually we figured out what the issue was and it's fixed. Since then, the router honestly has been working exceptionally well and I've had no issues (which is what I initially expected when I bought this). TO BE CLEAR, I'm giving 3 stars (as opposed to a one star review initially) because of my CUSTOMER service experience, the time delay and difficulty in getting through to customer service. But when they finally did, they were very helpful. The router itself has been working very well (I would give 4 STAR, one off for the fact that sometimes the automatic firmware update seems to need manual updating, but that occurred only one time thus far). (I removed my last paragraph wrt not buying or recommending a netgear product again. this product HAS NOT been giving any issues thus far since things have been sorted out.) NOTE - these updated and original reviews are NOT biased by any compensation from netgear. this is simply my experience as a customer. ORIGINAL REVIEW: First off, I do not write many reviews but this deserves special attention. I am a physician and Run a very busy practice and it is unfortunate that netgear is not taking this issue seriously. Router issues: I purchased this orbipro wifi 6 router on may 1st 2021. I set this up to my office network a week or so later. Since then, every morning when my staff gets to work, there is no internet connection or network connection. The ATT modem still works with no issues (the phone lines run through them and they still work. Att said there are no issues). The router itself is working throughout the day, very well, but the mornings it’s just not connecting. Deplorable Technical service - I have spent about 4 hours in total over the past 2 weeks trying to get in contact with net gear technical team. Finally I went through Amazon, who got through to their customer service. Netgear customer service could not get through to their own technical service team either. Customer service said they promised to have the technical team call me in an hr, 4 hours later I got a call (while I was with patients). I took the time to speak to them, they said they will email me instructions on how to make a log for tonight, that was an hour ago. Now I’m leaving the office for the same issues to occur tomorrow. It has been less than a month I’ve actually used the device and 6 weeks since I purchased it. I explained that this is a $600+ device and I need it to be working. A device like this shouldn’t be causing any issues. My IT company checked all settings and there is no issue they can find with the network ir the router settings. All firmware is up to date. I asked netgear for a refund and netgear refuses to discuss a refund. They said my only option is for them to first get trouble shooting information, then they will only be able to give back a REFURBISHED device. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW ITS POSSIBLE to pay over $600 for a device, and 6 weeks later, they are only ‘allowed’ to give a refurbished device!? I have a home orbi (older model), and have had no issues.

To begin with I am a Technical Writer and this isn't my first or second Mesh System. I work from home and use quite a bit of WiFi. I was moving my office and had decided to also move my Cable Router. I had already thought about changing the Mesh System but was hoping on doing it on a later day. I went ahead and purchased this unit and had put it aside for now. I call a tech guy to come out and run new cables. Once the router was set into place I began moving the old Mesh System unit. It should have been a simple Plug and Play since the unit had already been running and everything was already connected. Boy was I wrong. The old Mesh System didn't like the move. Nothing changed, the IP address was the same. The tech guy and I sat there for an hour trying to get the system to work. I decided to scrap the old Mesh System and brought out this one in less that 10 minutes we had it up and running and it seemed to take about five minutes to get most of the devices linked. My wife has also noticed how much fast it is to load her sites from across the house. I have tried the VPN, but that will be my next step later this month. I would definitely recommend it to anyone that is looking for something easy with great security.

Business grade Wifi. The insider app is quite a waste of time, but the device makes up for it. You can create 4 different networks with unique SSID's (One as a guest account) the setup is very user-friendly and the device helps us support multiple Wi-Fi connections.